Roy Sr left the family in 1932 and went to California. After Roy left, Kay started dating Wally FitzGerald who worked shoveling coal at the Winnetka Water Works. Oppenheimer's book calls Wally a "tall, handsome, ex-Marine". Kay and Wally married and he adopted Roy who then became called Roy FitzGerald. Oppenheirmer states that Roy hated Wally from the age of nine, and tried to stay away from home as much as possible. (pg 6)

Wally and Kay fought and he would beat her and Roy. They divorced, Kay married him a second time, and they divorced again when Roy was fifteen. Roy FitzGerald went to New Trier High School in Cook County, Illinois, graduating in 1944. Kay became a live-in housekeeper for a wealthy family, and also a telephone operator. For several years they lived above Walgreen's Drug Store.

Roy Sr had kept in touch with his first family, and when Roy was 16 he went to California to visit his father. In 1943 Rock enlisted in the U.S. Navy from which he was discharged in 1946. He returned to Winnetka for a time, living with his mother, but in order to persue his dream of becoming an actor he decided to relocate to California. For a short time he lived with his father who was then living with a wife and daughter in Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California.

Sara Davidson states that his first check for acting, which he'd kept for sentimental reasons, is made out for ten dollars, dated Mar 19, 1948, and endorsed to [his first live-in lover] Kenneth G Hodge.

New York Times, obituary "Rock Hudson"Oct 3, 1985 "Rock Hudson, Screen Idol, Dies at 59" stating such bits as : "...During the Depression, his father lost his job as an automobile mechanic and left the family. His mother, a telephone operator, remarried, and the actor, then 8 years old, took the surname of his stepfather Wallace Fitzgerald. His mother's second marriage ended after nine years." "In 1944, he joined the Navy and served in the Philippines as an airplane mechanic." None of his male lovers were named, his one-time wife Phyllis Gates was.

Seconday sources

Rock Hudson, His Story, by Rock Hudson and Sara Davidson; William Morrow and Company, New York. 1986 ISBN 0688064728Buy it at Amazon

Idol Rock Hudson : The True Story of an American Folk Hero, by Jerry Oppenheimer and Jack Vitek. Villard Books, 1986. ISBN 0394554892

Roy Harold Scherer

Roy Harold Scherer was born Jun 3, 1899 in Illinois possibly in Richland County, the son of Illinois natives Theodore Scherer, a farmer, and his wife Lena M Blatter. In 1924 Roy married Catherine "Kay" Wood and they had one child called then Roy Harold Scherer, Jr, but who would later be known as Rock Hudson.

It's unclear why he is called Raymond in the 1930 census, but his SSDI entry calls him Roy and biographers have since called him Roy as well.

In 1932, Roy deserted the family and moved to California. Rock's obituary in the New York Times, states that Roy had lost his job. By 1934, Roy had married to a Florence A somebody, and they are both registered living in Los Angeles City. In the 1930 census, Roy is a Proprietor of a Garage, and in the 1936 Voting Register in Los Angeles he is a mechanic.

Meanwhile Kay started dating Wally FitzGerald. They eventually married and Rock Hudson would now be known as Roy FitzGerald. It was under this name that he was discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1946 and decided to relocate to California to persue his dream of being an actor. At first he lived with his father in Long Beach, but after a short time he moved out.

Roy married thirdly Edith unknown who died shortly before he did. Sara Davidson tells the story that Roy was mentally gone in his old age. His last wife died and he thought she was sleeping, someone else determined that she had died. Roy had an adopted daughter with whom he lived for a short time. It's unclear if he died at her home.

Edith died in Aug, and Roy died in Nov 1982 possibly at Grant's Pass, Oregon which was their last residence.

New York Times, obituary "Rock Hudson"Oct 3, 1985 "Rock Hudson, Screen Idol, Dies at 59" stating such bits as : "...During the Depression, his father lost his job as an automobile mechanic and left the family. His mother, a telephone operator, remarried, and the actor, then 8 years old, took the surname of his stepfather Wallace Fitzgerald."

Secondary sources for 2

Rock Hudson, His Story, by Rock Hudson and Sara Davidson; William Morrow and Company, New York. 1986 ISBN 0688064728Buy it at Amazon

Katherine Wood

Katherine "Kay" Wood was born about 1900/1 in Illinois probably in Cook County to James Wood and Mary Enright.

In 1924 she married Roy Harold Scherer and they had one son Roy Harold Scherer, Jr who would later become known as Rock Hudson. When Rock was a young boy, Roy Sr left the family and moved to California. Kay began dating Wally FitzGerald, a "tall, handsome, ex-marine" according to Oppenheimer's book. They married, divorced and married again and divorced again when Roy was 15. Wally adopted Roy who then became known as Roy FitzGerald. Oppenheimer states that Roy hated Wally from the age of nine, and tried to stay away from home as much as possible. (pg 6)

Kay and her son Roy lived in Illinois until sometime after Roy joined the U.S. Navy in 1943. When Roy was discharged in 1946 he went to live with his father in California for a short time. It's not clear where Kay was during this period, but by the 50's she is seen in publicity photos with her son, now called Rock Hudson.

New York Times, obituary "Rock Hudson"Oct 3, 1985 "Rock Hudson, Screen Idol, Dies at 59" stating such bits as : "...During the Depression, his father lost his job as an automobile mechanic and left the family. His mother, a telephone operator, remarried, and the actor, then 8 years old, took the surname of his stepfather Wallace Fitzgerald. His mother's second marriage ended after nine years."

Secondary sources for 3

Rock Hudson, His Story, by Rock Hudson and Sara Davidson; William Morrow and Company, New York. 1986 ISBN 0688064728Buy it at Amazon

Idol Rock Hudson : The True Story of an American Folk Hero, by Jerry Oppenheimer and Jack Vitek. Villard Books, 1986. ISBN 0394554892

James Wood

Born in England about 1866/7.

By 1891 he had moved to the Chicago area where that year he married Mary E Enright. In 1900 they lived in Chicago. From at least 1910 to at least 1930 they lived in New Trier, and possibly this is where they died and are buried as well.